Recent Blogs
Blog
Inclusive Finance and Segmenting Smallholder Farmers
Not all smallholder farmers are the same. Of the 500 million smallholders in low- and middle-income countries, many need specialized financial services tailored to their agricultural activities.Blog
External Evaluation of CGAP’s Work to Advance Financial Inclusion
Next week, at our Annual Meeting in Amsterdam, CGAP will finalize and formally adopt a new strategic direction for the next five years. To help us put together this strategy, we commissioned an independent evaluation of our previous years’ work.Blog
M-Insurance: Ensuring Take-off While Doing No Harm
Mobile network operators (MNOs) have recently begun offering insurance to their clients known as ‘m-insurance’, which offers a significant opportunity to scale-up access to insurance.Blog
Does Market Saturation Increase the Risk of Over-indebtedness?
Over-indebtedness is commonly linked to overly penetrated markets, but determining whether market saturation drives over-indebtedness is not so simple.Blog
MSMEs: Big Opportunity In Small Lending
Access to finance is the most significant obstacle to business growth globally (16.2%) and experts estimate that there are 310 to 380 million enterprises that need more credit but can’t access it, with collective needs totaling $2.1 to $2.5 trillion.Blog
Mobile Life Insurance: Innovations From Pakistan
The commercial viability of businesses that provide life insurance to the poor is difficult to predict. The strong penetration of mobile phones in Pakistan provides a cost-effective method of acquiring customers that holds promise for the industry.Blog
Branchless Banking in Pakistan: the Glass Half and Full View
Branchless banking is flourishing in Pakistan, which is on track to become the most competitive mobile money market in the world.Blog
Learning How To Move A Microinsurance Market From Zambia
Can a market development approach that takes a holistic view, tackling problems of demand and supply, policy and regulation be successful in developing a microinsurance market? Based on our experience in Zambia, we would argue that the answer is yes.Blog
Standing Firm With Clients When Catastrophe Hits
In the aftermath of hurricane Sandy, Fonkoze—Haiti’s largest MFI and the only one that offers catastrophe microinsurance to its 65,000 clients—faced more than 17,000 claims to review.Blog
Open Sourcing Product Innovation
In our work through applied product innovation, we are learning that being open about the products that didn’t work can be an important mandate for all providers—as what is discarded by some can be a treasure for others.Blog
Transparency In SME Investments: We’re Not There Yet
Despite evidence of financial and impact tracking, most DFIs do not disclose data on financial performance. Reporting on social impact is even harder to obtain. We are a long way from full transparency.Blog
Landscaping Microinsurance In Africa And Latin America
Two recent landscape studies provide much needed data to assist a variety of stakeholders – including insurers, distribution channels, policy-makers, donors and consultants – to understand the microinsurance markets more effectively, leading to better development and expansion of microinsurance.Blog
Data: Enabling Country-led Actions to Address Financial Inclusion
Following the endorsement of the G20 Basic Set of Financial Inclusion Indicators, the Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion's Data and Measurement Sub-Group, in collaboration with partners, has developed an online data portal.Blog
Islamic Microfinance And Clients: See What I Do, Not What I Say
Muslim microfinance clients often insist on Sharia-compliant products. However, when offered, many clients try the products and then go back to conventional products. Others shun the Islamic offerings altogether. Why this disconnect between what people say and what they do?Blog
Experiencing Human-Centered Design For The Base Of The Pyramid
Recently CGAP has worked in three countries with a variety of partners to generate demand-side insights and design innovative products that work better for low-income households, using what has come to be known as “human-centered design."Blog
Does “Effective Interoperability” Equal Financial Inclusion?
The measurement of “effective interoperability,” depends on the ultimate policy goal, which could be financial inclusion. In the case of Pakistan, “effective interconnection” could facilitate a 100 million Pakistanis with electronic financial access within eight years.Blog
Why People Don’t Buy Microinsurance
Several factors influence a household's decision to buy microinsurance. A review of over 30 studies shows that trust and liquidity constraints are amongst the most important determinants while understanding demand of microinsurance products.Blog
Over-indebtedness: Striking the Right Policy Balance
Debt stress is an inherent phase in the evolution of credit markets and in credit cycles, but it is also a significant source of instability.Blog
New Rwanda Diaries Ask, “Can We Build A Better Goat?”
Portfolios of Rwanda is a new report that analyzes the daily cash flows of Rwandan households to better understand their financial needs. In many cases, the challenge is no longer an issue of access to financial services, but one of relevant products.Blog